Electric mattress



Dec. 9, 1941. 1 l R, LUBECK 2,265,535

ELECTRIC MATTRES S Filed July 10, 1959 INVENTOR. JOHN LUBECK BY, la ArroRNEYs Patented Dec. 9, 1.941

UNITED STATES Parser OFFICE 2,265,535 ELECTRIC MATTRESS John R. Lubeck, Alameda, Calif. Application July 10, 1939, Serial No. 283,613'

1 Claim. (Cl. 12S-376) This application relates to electro-therapeutic apparatus, and particularly to an applicator constructed in the form of a pad or mattress, and designed to apply gentle current, either alternating or direct, to substantially the entire body of a patient over a relatively long period of time,A

e. g., throughout the night or at other times when the patient is asleep.

Among the objects of my invention are: To provide an applicator which may be used with a treatment system for giving protracted treatments with a minimum of discomfort; to provide an applicator which will apply gentle current, of which the patient is barely conscious, if at all;

to provide an applicator which will apply suiilciently high voltages to a patients skin to cause an appreciable current flow without involving danger of shock; to provide an applicator wherein the electrodes are permanently arranged in the desired position, without danger of shorting;

to provide a treatment system in accordance with periods of time, are quite dierent from the effect of the heavier currents more commonly used applied over short periods. The conditions indicating treatments of this character and the results obtained are, per se, no part of this invention. I have found, however, that it is desirablev to subject as large a portion of the patient as possible to the effect of these mild currents, both for the therapeutic effect obtained thereby, and to reduce the current density on any one portion of the patients skin, thus preventing local heating effects or burning. To apply such treatments in a medical office would require undue amounts of time of both the patient and his physician. The ideal time and place for carrying them out is while the patient is sleeping. The broad purpose of this invention, considered apart from the specific objects as enumerated above, is to provide a type of treatment and a method of applying the same which will enable such treatments to be carried out in the patients own home; the

of experiment,

physician may make such adjustment in the apparatus as he deems fit. The apparatus may be connected to the ordinary power supply in the patients home, and, when the patient goes to bed, the treatments occur automatically.

Considered in terms of apparatus, my invention -comprises a pad or mattress which includes two conductors of extended area which cover the greater part of the'surface of the mattress or pad upon which the patient would normally lie, these two conductors being separated at the central portion of the pad at a space of not over a few inches. Covering the entire surface of the pad and both `of the conductors is a layer of porous material. `I'have found wool to be the most satisfactory, and of woolen materials I prefer flannel. This does not, however, exclude the use of other than all wool materials, since fairly successful results have been obtained with part wool blanketing material and even with flannelette. Closely woven materials of line spun threads, such as sheeting or ticking, however, are not satisfactory for the purpose. A connection is made to each of the two conductors, and in cases where direct current is available or where the current is desired purely for external effects,

these connections can be suplied through a current-limiting resistor direct from the lighting mains. Under ordinary circumstances, however, D. C. of the proper potential is not ordinarily available, and hence it is generally desirable to provide a transformer and rectifier for supplying limited amounts of direct current to the two conductors. In this case it is possible to make the current carrying capacity of a rectifier tube also serve the purpose of the current limiting resisto-r. In order to use the apparatus the connection is made to the conductors as above described-and the patient lies upon the pad, either directly upon the flannel or similar covering, or else separated from it by no more than a thin sheet. The patient is preferably covered exactly as he normally would be upon retiring. At lthe start, no current whatever normally flows, and this is, of course, what would normally be expected since both the Wool and any sheets used are insulators. After a short period of time, usually of the order of about twenty minutes, a slight current flow may be detected, and the patient experiences a distinct feeling of warmth, but this is all. The current continues to increase for a time, and then ordinarily assumes an approximately steady value which remains substantially constant until the patient changes position.

I attribute these effects to electrolytic conrent supplied.

. although the actual mesh, size of wire, and even` i of material arenotA important. I Y l j Covering both sides of the screen rforming thev conductors is a bag or double layer V of blankets,`

duction from the perspiration of the patients body, diffusing through the loose porous material of the cover of the conductors. It is for this reason that tightly woven material such as sheeting or ticking is not satisfactory. With such material, if the patient lies in one position, one point will become definitely moist and will carry more than the desirable amount of current, which Causes heating or even actual discomfort. This causes Vfurther perspiration at this one point, vand the eiect is cumulative. With wool, however, the moisture diiuses throughout the pores of the material,

I ,Y ends which may and almost certainly will pene-V and unless excessive,

sweating takes place the current density over A f any area of the patients body is self-limiting. rIhis current diffusion occurs even though a thin sheet be placed over the wool, though YI-prefer not to do this unless the patient vhas an extremely sensitive skin which is irritated by contact with wool. The matter canbe stated crudelyby sayingthat -thecotton sheeting acts as if it were eith'er a complete conductor or a complete noncon'ductor, whereas the perspiration supplied by the patient and acting as an electrolyte so diffuses through the wool, even though the latter be covered by cotton, so as to distribute the cur- The actual method and means for applying the invention'can best be understood by reference to the various gures of the drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a plan View of a pad embodying my invention and designed for use Vover the customary mattress.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view of a p0rtion of the pad of Fig. '1. Fig.`3 is a preferred form of the device, shown in longitudinal section, and including a schematic showing of a rectifier circuit for supplying treatment current. y

'Considering the figures now in detail, the two conductors l and 3 are preferably loosely woven screen of very line Wire. No. 10' mesh screen formed of No. 36 bare copper Wire ,is satisfactory,

which Vmay be all -or part cotton Yas has been indicated above, but is preferably wool. The blank-` Y et material is sewn around the edgesand is prefverably quilted as shownby the stitching 'I tol prevent shifting of the conductors. VA connection cord 9, provided with a plug I I, is .connectedfto the two conductors. The sizeof the applicator .is made so that it will cover substantially they whole top of a standard size mattress-single.l double, or three-quarters as the case may be-; and the patient lies upon the pad either directly or upon a `sheet placed over the pad. Ordinary covers are used over the patient. 'Ihe plug II connects to an ordinary lighting service, and the 1 maximum currentwhich can flow is limited by a vresistorv I3 included in the cord 9. This resistor is ordinarilyfof such value. as to limit the current cotton linters, e'xcelsior or any of the other resiltrate the upper covering of the mattress, and -lead to penetrating contact with the skin of the patient which may cause laceration or even serious burns. YThe two conductors I'I and I9 are *separated by a strip 2I of the more usual mattress padding.

The lower cover 23 of the mattress may be ordinary ticking. The upper cover 25 however, is again preferably of iiannel or other woolen fabric. The usual tufting 27 is employed to hold the vpadding in place. V'For Yobvious vreasons metal buttons should not 'be employed for locking the tufting. I prefer, also, that the cords or threads 29 used in forming the tufting ybe of silk, andY the same is true of the threads 'l used for the quilting illustrated in Fig. 2.

Contact with the conductors I'I and I9 is preferably made by contact to pieces of screen 3I, held in place between the mattress body I5 and the metal wool by means of one of the tuftings in each section of conductors. Any other method of making a contact to the metal wool, which is firmly locked in place may, of course, be used.

In Fig. 3, I also show schematically one method of applying Vdirect current treatment to the patient 'from an alternating current source. The simple connection shown in Fig. l can, of course, only 'be used to supply current of the saine type as is supplied by the mains, and can be connected either to direct oralternating current supplies. With the type of connection shown in Fig. 3, only alternating current can be used. Y

With this arrangement connection to the'A. C.

supply is inadefthrough a Yplug 33,V which is connected to the primary of a transformer'which Y has Vtwo secondary .windingsf Of these, one is v'a high tensionwinding 31., the "two ends of which connect to the Vtwo plates Yoi a full wave rectifier y tube 39. 4The second secondary winding M Vis a K 55. nected respectively to centery taps onthe two secnected to the conductors II and I9, are also conondary windings. A resistor 47 may besupplied for controlling the current 'in the filament of the rectifier tube- The circuit described is, of` course,-a simple rectifier -circuit'such as is frequently used in the radioart. It' supplies unidirectional current to toma few milliamperes at most, even Vshould a deadshort be applied across the conductors I lv-alnd 3..,

fFigure 3 illustrates a Vform ofi-the invention f wherein the'device is embodied in a thicker pad or mattress, this being a preferable form, al-

" vthough it is of course, more elaborate and hence more expensive than the -pad first described. 'The body I5 of the mattress is V'composed offany of theconductors I 'I and I9, andiif the'current be limited by the'values of filament current Asupplied it has the advantage that a relatively high overall voltage'may Ybe rused applying a jfairly high current through to the patient,-even in the-initial stages of the treatment, and that whenconductivityhas been increased byfthe patients vperspiration theecurrent will still be limited. In'other words, the use of an electrical discharge tube as I current-'limiting device has the eifect of fa vari- Y able resistance which is high when thejexternal n g resistance islow, and 10W V`the ordinary 'mattress .materialswfcu'rled hair, 75

. l when the external yresistance is high. l

I claim:

An electrical applicator adapted to receive the body of a patient to be treated, a pair of flexible conducting members disposed on the top of the applicator at each end thereof and positioned in spaced edge to edge relationship, said conducting members being insulated from each other by a section of the applicator consisting of electrical insulation located substantially centrally of the applicator, connecting leads to said conducting 10 members, a cover for the applicator and conducting members comprising a soft loosely Woven fabric having a nap-like surface, each of said conducting members including a mesh screen, and a layer of metal Wool filling the space between the screen and said cover in a direction normal to the extent of the applicator on one side thereof only.

JOHN R. LBECK. 

